Business Report writes that the Minerals Council SA (previously known as the Chamber of Mines) has warned that the industry could lose 150,000 jobs if the National Electricity Regulator of SA (Nersa) grants power utility Eskom the 15% tariff hike for each of the next three years it has applied for.  

The council’s chief economist, Henk Langenhoven, said on Wednesday that the increase would signal a tipping point for the mining industry and the economy.  It would also hasten the demise of the gold mining industry, where 61,367 employees were working at marginal or loss-making mines.  “The proposed tariff increases will virtually eliminate the entire gold mining industry,” Langenhoven claimed.  The impact would similarly be severely felt in the platinum mining industry, where 37,900 jobs would be terminated, Langenhoven said.  “The impact on other commodities could bring the total mining employment job losses to as high as 150,000,” he estimated.  The Energy Intensive Users Group also slammed Eskom’s request, charging that its business model needed to be revisited.

• Read Dineo Faku’s report on this story in full at Business Report

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